1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for controlling progress of a video game by displaying a player character on an image display screen of an image display apparatus, and by controlling an action of the player character displayed on the image display screen in response to operation(s) by a player.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, various kinds of so-called role playing games (RPG; that is, a game in which a player plays a role of a character in a world of the game to accomplish a predetermined object while enjoying a process that the character grows through various experiences) have been provided.
In such a RPG, generally, a player character acting in response to operations by the player wins a battle against an enemy character thwarting accomplishment of a predetermined object in the RPG, by which various benefits such as an experiential value are supplied to the player character.
In a video game such as a RPG, an attack against an enemy character in a battle is generally executed by means of a direct attack in which a weapon such as a sword or part of magic is used or an indirect attack in which an object item that has no relation to the player character and/or an enemy character is used. There are some attacks devised so that the player character can attack an enemy character to apply a great deal of damage to the enemy character using a so-called special technique (or special weapon) that is to be activated by satisfying a specific condition.
For example, a condition to specify a command so as to use a specific item or magic, a condition to input a special command at specific timing, and a condition that attacks against an enemy character continuously succeed predetermined times have been well known as the specific condition to activate such a special technique.
Further, in other categories of video games than a RPG, there are a lot of video games that adopt conditions relating to the video games as described above other than the conditions to obtain a specific effect such as an attack using a special technique. Among them, as a video game in which a player can obtain a higher score or a special effect depending upon how to execute a specific action timely, there is a video game as follows, for example.
Namely, there has been proposed a video game in which a player executes, using an input device such as a simulated musical instrument or the like, operational inputs in accordance with instructions of contents, for example, which a cursor proceeding at specific speed indicates along operation guidance such as an icon displayed on a display screen of an image display apparatus (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 2,922,509).
Further, there has also been proposed a video game that adopts an input device using parts of the body of the player or behavior of the player itself, in order to execute operational inputs in accordance with instructions of contents, for example, indicated by a cursor displayed against operation guidance such as an icon displayed on a display screen of an image display apparatus (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 3,003,851 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-24833).
However, in a system of operational inputs relating to progress of a video game in such a conventional video game, even though the operational inputs are executed in accordance with instructions by the operation guidance and/or the cursor, this merely results in simple addition of a score. Thus, there has been a fear to lose player's will to continue to play the video game. Further, in the case where a special command is inputted to obtain a special effect such as an attack with a special technique (or special weapon), operational skill of the player influences progress of the video game. Thus, there has been a fear to lose interest of some players in the video game.